Alex Padilla is formally California’s first Latino senator, after being sworn on this afternoon alongside Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael W
Alex Padilla is formally California’s first Latino senator, after being sworn on this afternoon alongside Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Padilla, a longtime public servant who most just lately served as California’s secretary of state, will take over Vice President Kamala Harris’s seat. Chosen by California Gov. Gavin Newsom final yr, Padilla will full the remaining two years in Harris’s time period and be up for reelection in 2022.
Now that Padilla, Ossoff, and Warnock have been seated, Democrats have a 50-person caucus and the Senate majority, given Harris’s tie-breaking vote. They’re poised to tackle an impeachment trial, approve Cupboard nominees, and weigh an bold legislative agenda within the coming weeks.
In a current interview with the New York Instances’s Jennifer Medina, Padilla emphasised plans to focus his legislative efforts on coronavirus aid and immigration reform. He’s additionally famous his assist for eliminating the legislative filibuster, in addition to key progressive priorities equivalent to Medicare-for-all and the Inexperienced New Deal.
“It isn’t sufficient to only reverse government orders signed by Donald Trump,” Padilla advised the Instances. “We now have to transcend that and truly present the great immigration reform.”
This week will likely be about celebrating a brand new administration and a hopeful new day in Washington. It’s going to even be about attending to work on:
– Efficient vaccine distribution
– Getting our economic system and jobs again on monitor
– Medicare for All
– A Inexperienced New Deal
– Immigration reform— Alex Padilla (@AlexPadilla4CA) January 18, 2021
Who’s Alex Padilla?
Padilla’s appointment to the Senate is a historic one. Till now, the state — which is 40 p.c Latino — had but to have a Latino senator. Within the present Congress, Padilla is considered one of six Latino senators within the higher chamber.
In his earlier position as California’s secretary of state, Padilla efficiently oversaw the current common election and the large uptick in mail-in voting as a result of pandemic. He’s additionally superior reforms to assist make voting extra accessible, together with mechanically registering eligible adults once they obtain a driver’s license.
Previous to his election as secretary of state in 2014, Padilla was a state senator and head of the Committee on Vitality, Utilities and Communications. As a member of the legislature, he launched legal guidelines that created guidelines for driverless automotive exams, in addition to public well being measures requiring quick meals eating places to reveal diet data.
A graduate of MIT and a former engineer, Padilla started his public service profession as a member of the Los Angeles Metropolis Council in 1999. He additionally labored as an aide for Sen. Dianne Feinstein and then-Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, who’s now a member of Congress.
Padilla’s ties to the state are deep: He grew up in Southern California because the son of Mexican immigrants, whose assist he spoke about emotionally when Newsom requested him to take over Harris’s seat. “Can’t let you know what number of pancakes my dad flipped or eggs he scrambled making an attempt to offer for us, or the various, a few years of my mother cleansing homes, doing the identical factor,” Padilla stated. “That’s why I attempt so exhausting to ensure that our democracy is as inclusive in California as we’ve constructed.”